


Horrid Horrificator

by RockSunner



Series: Smart Adversaries AU [46]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captured, Damsels in Distress, Episode: s01 Horrificator, F/F, F/M, Horror, Romance, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-04-23 03:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19143097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockSunner/pseuds/RockSunner
Summary: What if Horrificator attacked earlier, when Marinette and Alya were in the bathroom?





	1. Stalled

"Why are you so intimidated and scared all the time?" Mylène asked herself, staring into the mirror in the girl's bathroom.

She had tried to act the part of the bold Agent Smith in a school movie project, but she kept jumping and screaming whenever Ivan appeared in his purple, three-eyed monster costume.

She ran away when Chloé mocked her as a "pathetic scaredy-cat." Ivan had followed and tried to cheer her up by giving her a pin from his favorite band, the Zombie Skull Crushers, but it didn't restore her confidence. She couldn't act to save her life.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Mylène was too upset to notice the purple-black butterfly entering the pin.

"Horrificator, I am Hawk Moth. Up until now, you have felt fear. From now on, you will cause fear. And after you show them how they make you feel, you will do something for me in return."

"Yes, Hawk Moth," said Mylène.

Dark magic bubbled around her, and she became a small version of the purple monster from the movie.

"Blaagh!"

Horrificator spit sticky purple and pink goo all over the mirror.

* * *

The bathroom door started to open.

"Mylène? Mylène?" said Marinette.

The remnant of Mylène's timid personality asserted itself. She couldn't let anyone see her like this! Horrificator hid in a stall.

Through the crack in the door, Horrificator saw Marinette standing at the mirror. Marinette put a finger on the sticky substance.

Alya came in. "Did you find her?"

Marinette said, "No."

Before Alya could respond, Horrificator got a mental communication from Hawk Moth.

"Horrificator, you don't have to hide! Attack them, and you will grow from their fear!"

"Blargh?" said Horrificator.

"I hear someone in that stall," said Alya. "Did you check there for Mylène?"

"I was distracted by the goop on the mirror," said Marinette.

"Eeew, vandalism! We'll report it to the principal later. Hurry up and get Mylène and then let's get back. Some smooching is about to go down!"

* * *

The stall door opened and the two gasped in shock at what they saw: a three-eyed purple monster.

Hawk Moth sent, "Scare them, Horrificator, and you will thrive!"

Energized by the fear she sensed, Horrificator stood tall and growled.

Marinette and Alya screamed.

Grabbing one with each arm, Horrificator pulled them into the stall and shoved them to the floor on either side of the toilet. She vomited goo all over them, sticking them to the back wall.

They were covered with the purple muck from the neck down. When they opened their mouths to shout for help, Horrificator spat more of the goo into her hands. She stuffed it into their mouths, sealing them.

Her instincts told her that her victims should be completely sealed up. Horrificator jumped to the top of the stall and sealed off the top. She sealed the side edges of the stall with more goo, then closed and covered the door.

They were scared, and it felt good. It wasn't quite as much fear as she had hoped for – both were braver than she anticipated. Horrificator only grew a little bit. She went out into the school courtyard to seek more victims. It would be good to find a place to seal up more of them together – the stalls didn't provide enough room. The school cellar would be much better for the rest...


	2. Water Works

Marinette struggled against the goo, feeling it harden around her. She couldn't budge.

In her mouth, only the part dampened by saliva was soft enough to allow her tongue to move, but she couldn't get much sound out. It tasted like old tires and vomit. She could have tried to swallow the softened part, but she was afraid it might be toxic.

Tikki phased out of her purse and through the goo to the side away from Alya.

"Marinette," Tikki whispered very softly in her ear. "What can we do?"

After the Robustus incident, when Chat Noir was able to translate the message flashed by a light and Ladybug wasn't, Marinette had taught herself Morse code. She hoped the the kwami knew it – Tikki had been around for ages and probably knew every form of human communication.

Marinette blinked the eye facing Tikki in patterns of long and short intervals. "W_A_T_E_R... S_O_F_T_E_N_S"

"Water?" asked Tikki. "Where can I get water?"

"T_O_I_L_E_T"

It was an awful thing to ask Tikki to do, but Marinette had seen Tikki phase with a mouth full of cookies. If something was physically inside Tikki, she could treat it as part of herself.

Tikki grimaced, then said,"Okay. What about Alya?"

"F_R_E_E... H_E_R... T_O_O"

"I won't compromise your secret identity. You need to find a way to keep your secret, or else wait and hope Chat Noir can win by himself."

Marinette thought hard. She had an idea, but she felt as cruel as the monster for suggesting it.

"B_L_O_C_K... E_Y_E_S... E_A_R_S"

Tikki said, "All right."

Tikki phased in and out of the toilet from Marinette's side, carrying mouthfuls of water. She spit it out gently and quietly until she had loosened a good-sized blob of goo. She flew the blob behind Alya' s head and worked it up her neck, as if some of the stuff had come alive.

Alya shuddered and made muffled sounds as the blob was moved to the top of her head. From there, Tikki pushed goo down over the front of Alya's glasses, completely blindfolding her. Tikki worked more of the softened goo down on each side of Alya's head, covering and plugging her ears. Tikki blew on it until it dried as hard as the rest.

Once Alya was isolated, Tikki went to work freeing Marinette's arm on the side nearest the toilet. With an arm free, Marinette opened the toilet lid and dipped out water onto herself to speed up the process.

Soon Marinette was mobile. She still had to get out of the gummed-up stall, and the standing water in the toilet was exhausted. Tikki could bring mouthfuls from the other toilets nearby, but that was too slow. Marinette heard screams – she was needed out there.

Marinette flushed the toilet to bring in more water. She dipped it out and softened a hole in the goo that blocked the edge of the stall on her side. She was thin and limber enough to slide out through a small opening.

Once out of the stall, Marinette looked in the mirror – she was a complete mess, covered in runny gunk. Transformation would fix that.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Ladybug set out to save the others.


	3. Paired

The akuma fight had been relatively easy. When Ladybug got out into the courtyard she had found the building completely sealed off with a tough layer of goo. Nobody was in sight, so she got a bucket of water from the janitor's closet and melted a hole in a corner above the courtyard to explain how she got in.

She met up with Chat Noir. (How he had gotten in was never explained). They found most of the students glued into pods in the school basement and were in the process of setting them free when Horrificator showed up to attack them.

After a brief period of dodging projectile goo vomit, Chat Noir did a Cataclysm which trapped Horrificator in a cage of ceiling beams.

Ladybug did a Lucky Charm and got guitar strings. She was inspired to create an impromptu band using various bottles and pails as instruments.

Getting the students to sing "Smelly Wolf" reduced their fears enough to shrink the monster down. Ivan picked up Horrificator and Ladybug pulled off the akumatized pin stuck to her hair. She broke the pin and purified the akuma.

* * *

Ladybug slipped back into the bathroom, Lucky Charm guitar strings in hand.

Now for the tricky part – rejoining Alya without giving away her identity.

Ladybug scooted back under the side of the bathroom stall using the hole she had made earlier. She sat back on the left side of the toilet. Alya was still completely muffled.

Ladybug tossed the guitar strings into the air with a soft call of "Miraculous Ladybug," followed immediately by "Spots off" as the magical swarm of ladybugs came out.

The swarm cleaned them both off instantly, concealing the fact that Marinette had been free. The magical beetles flew off to cleanse the rest of the school, as the exhausted Tikki slipped into Marinette's purse.

Alya seemed very shaken up.

"M-mariette, how are you holding up? I'm not feeling so good..."

"Are you all right, Alya?" asked Marinette, moving over to Alya's side.

"When the goo came alive I though it would crawl all over my face and block my nose. I knew Ladybug would bring me back, but I didn't want the memory of smothering to death. I'm going to have nightmares as it is."

"It was really bad for you, wasn't it? I'm sorry," said Marinette.

"Hold me. I'm shaking," said Alya. "You're so brave. We both went through this together and you're way less freaked out than me."

Marinette helped Alya to stand up and gave her a tight hug.

"You're really brave, too," said Marinette. "You didn't get scared when Pharaoh was going to send you into a giant hole in the sky. This wasn't that much worse."

"I have claustrophobia," said Alya. "The hole in the sky didn't scare me that much, but being pinned behind a car by Stoneheart – I really screamed that time."

"You'll be all right. Ladybug saved us. Everything is all right now."

Alya just held on tighter. "I wish we could be more than friends."

"What?" asked Marinette. "But..."

"I like both guys and girls. I have a huge crush on Majestia, and of course Ladybug. But they're out of my league," said Alya. "I like you a lot. You're brave like them."

Marinette didn't want to break her heart since she had left Ayla all bound up, letting her get into this state. She continued to hold on.

Later, when she saw clips of the kissing scene between Adrien and Chloé, Marinette was crushed. She decided to give Alya a chance.

* * *

A few days later, Nino came into class beaming.

"My movie's a huge success, dudes! Clips from it have gone viral on the internet."

Chloé chimed in, "My father accepted it into the contest because of my starring role. He thought the monster looked fake, but he loved my Agent Smith!"

"It totally helped that Ladybug and Chat Noir were in it, too," said Nino.

Adrien said, "My father is making a new line of clothes inspired by Agent Smith and Jones. He wants us to appear in public together for publicity, Chloé."

"You're asking me out, Adrikins? I'd love to!" said Chloé.

"Umm." said Adrien, but he didn't refuse.

Alya whispered to Marinette, "I know this is hard for you. At least you've got me."

Marinette gave her a smile. Alya was really nice, and memories of their sleepover last night were helping her get over her heartbreak.

**The End**


End file.
